Homemade EasterEggs: Gluten Free

I am not the biggest fan of chocolate, in terms of dairy based treats I am more of a cheese girl however I do love the snap of crisp easter egg shell, cold from the fridge, I love holding a whole chocolate egg in my hand and whacking it inelegantly off the table top until it shatters. I am still getting over the fact that you don’t find sweets nestled inside eggs anymore, that they are separately packed in the box. I love that most people I know still get giddy about chocolate at this time of year. I love that yesterday, in the midst of a very busy work daypeople in my office took the time to search for the chocolate bunnies I had hidden throughout our offices. I like that Iknow people my age who still give up chocolate for Lent who are now carefully planing exactly what kind of chocolate they are going to eat and in what order this Sunday.

Last year I went home to Cork for the Easter Holidays and when I arrived in my Mum was in the middle of making Easter Eggs for my nephew who is celiac. Is is possible to find Easter Eggs that are gluten free but they tend to be dark chocolate and designed more for adults than teenage boys. Much to her well concealed annoyance I whipped out my camera andstarted photographing the process. As it was already Easter I didn’t post the images but just in case you have the time or the inclination over the next two days to play around with some melted chocolate and sweets I thought I would pop them up today. This isn’t the most detailed of posts as I discovered that making home made Eggs is a much simpler process than I had thought and just takes a bit of imaginationto create some personalized Easter treats.

250 grams of 40% chocolate (GF), chopped or broken into pieces and divided in 2 quantities of 125 grams.

Sweets or cookies (make sure these are GF if making a gift for someone who is celiac) for decoration. My Mum used a gluten free Oreo type cookie which I still cannot find in Dublin!

Melt one half of the chocolate either in a bowl over hot water orin a microwave at 30 second intervals, checking regularly.

Once this chocolate is melted add in the the second quantity of chopped chocolate to the bowl and stir in to the melted chocolate.

This will reduce the temperature of the melted chocolate and also temper it to give a lovely sheen.

Once the chocolate is fully combined spoon it into one side of the mould and move the mould around to fully cover the inside. Leave to set in the fridge. When it has cooled spoon in some more chocolate to build up the shell to your desired thickness. Again place in the fridge to cool

For the decorated side of the egg, place your sweets or broken cookies in the mould and drizzle over the melted chocolate to hold them in place, allow to cool before spooning in the chocolate to cover the inside of the mould. Follow the same process as for the first half of the egg, building up the shell until you are happy with the thickness. Return to the fridge to cool

Once both shells are fully cooled and hardened remove them from the fridge.

Heat a metal tray under a hot tap and then dry it. Remove the shells from the moulds by turn them upside down on a table or other flat surface, if they don’t come out easily rub your hand over the outside of the mould and the heat of your hand will help release the shell from the mould.Place the shells on the heatedtray to melt the edges of the chocolate and place the shells edge to edge until they stick together. If you want to put sweets in the egg put them in before you stick them together.

Leave the eggs for a few minutes so the edges can cool and harden and then you can drizzle over some more chocolate for an extra decoration.

You can place the egg in a tissue paper lined basket or wrap it in clear cellophane tied with ribbon to make a beautiful Easter gift.